


The Art of Rebellion

by atomicmayo



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 23:25:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomicmayo/pseuds/atomicmayo
Summary: Yes, art is probably banned within the Federation itself, but it's pretty easy to study on neutral planets.





	The Art of Rebellion

**Author's Note:**

> This was from a reblog on a great bit of meta from comarum, who wrote a post on the little Vermeer art card Avon is playing with during the chess scene in Gambit. You can read the full post [here](http://comarum.tumblr.com/post/139713771721/all-right-b7-fandom-give-me-all-your-theories-as).

A gaunt, unsuccessful marketing consultant sits in the office of an educational toy company on a neutral world, desperately trying to give a latest line of cheap games a bit of pizazz. Kids love to trade and collect junk - what would young, burgeoning nerds want to trade and collect? Little cards with pieces of art on them! The company doesn’t export their toys to Federation controlled worlds - and because it’s banned in the Federation, kids might consider trading art cards edgy and… cool! Yeah! Make art history cool! That’s it! Every game set has a bonus pack of art cards. Buy the all the games! Collect all the cards!

A small, lucrative corner of the black market soon opens for the games among any resistance operating in Federation controlled space - not only do the games keep you entertained for a little while you’re in hiding from Fed security patrols, but once you’re caught, you have a card with a painting on it. You are sticking it to the Federation in a minor way because you’re carrying something illegal, and as a bonus you’re also in possession of something the troops that find you have never seen, and probably don’t understand - almost a little analogy for freedom, sitting right there in your pocket.

A more practical value arises among the resistance, too. Imagine a Federation officer writing the report on your capture and execution, and they only identify you as a number. Another resistance fighter is able to intercept your file and then reads your list of personal effects.

“Oh that has to be So-And-So - she always carried The Garden of Earthly Delights card - you know how rare that card is? That has to be her.” You can at least die knowing your friends would find out what happened to you.

The crew of the Liberator eventually makes it to a neutral world with a dusty little marketplace, and they’re able to buy a few things that they couldn’t find on Liberator itself. There isn’t much around, but one merchant has some children’s clothes and games. One happens to be a chess set - with a bonus pack of cards. None of the crew adopts the tradition they initially heard of from Blake, but no one has the heart to throw the cards out, either. Cards are occasionally found scattered around different parts of the ship. While playing chess with Vila one day, Avon picks a card up that had been left in the storage tray of the chess set and was staring at the blurb on the back without really reading it - something to occupy his hands while he was talking to Vila.


End file.
